


Even Lovers Drown

by thisisafamilyshow_orisit



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: A little funny because the boys are funny we all know this, Alternate Universe, Angst, Eventual Smut, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Mermaid Harry, Mermaid Niall, Mermaids, Past Lives, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Sexual Tension, Sirens, Suspense/Horror - Freeform, background ziam - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2019-10-22 03:52:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17655563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisafamilyshow_orisit/pseuds/thisisafamilyshow_orisit
Summary: Louis broke out in a cold sweat, eyes trained on the large object gliding just below the surface. A low hum filled his ears. His hands trembled, threatening to slip off the mast. The thing was 20 feet from the boat now, then 10… as if in slow motion, the creature broke the surface of the water. Louis tried to scream, to run, but he was frozen in terror.It was a boy, just like in his dream, only this wasn't the same boy. This was the most beautiful boy Louis had ever seen. This stunning creature had dark shoulder-length hair slicked off his face, a sharp, defined jawline, and perfectly sculpted pink lips, slightly parted because he was singing.Or: Louis, Liam, and Zayn are university students fascinated by the Bermuda Triangle. They sail to it to test a theory involving radio waves, which is going great until they discover the real reason so many people disappear here.Or: Mermaid/Siren fic





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A mermaid found a swimming lad,  
> Picked him for her own,  
> Pressed her body to his body,  
> Laughed; and plunging down  
> Forgot in cruel happiness  
> That even lovers drown.
> 
> -William Butler Yeats

 The air felt tense, buzzing with frenetic energy as the 35 ft sailboat cut smoothly through the waves. Aboard the _One Direction_ , the three normally boisterous boys huddled silently around the GPS, eyes darting nervously, scanning the choppy waves. After three long weeks spent sailing across an entire ocean, they were finally nearing their destination.

 “Are we in it?” Liam’s voice came out in a hushed whisper.

 Zayn’s long fingers had turned white where they curved gracefully around the smooth plastic edge of the GPS screen. One, two… six seconds passed before he blew out a shaky breath.

 “Just crossed over. We're in the Bermuda Triangle, lads.”

 Three drawn faces slowly relaxed into grins as nervous anticipation faded into a sense of elated accomplishment.

 “Oi oi!!!” Louis crowed, throwing his arms around his best friends’ shoulders. The tension  broken, they joined in the cheer, crowding in for a bouncy group hug.

 Zayn and Liam immediately began bustling about the sailboat checking various equipment, jotting down readings in log books while Louis shoved celebratory beers into their hands. Louis had little knowledge of the sciency aspect of this voyage, he had been roped in purely by his sense of adventure and superior sailing skills. He had been dubbed “the jockey of the sea” by his university sailboat racing team, probably because he was small like a jockey, but Louis chose to believe it was because he was clearly on a professional level. They don't call amateur horseback riders “jockeys,” do they now?

 He certainly was a professional now, having safely sailed clear across the Atlantic from England. It still seemed so unreal. He'd been dreaming of sailing around the world since he was five. Little Louis used to sit starry-eyed on the floor, bare toes wiggling in the ugly burnt-orange shag carpeting as his mother regaled him with tales of pirates and great white whales, vowing that one day, he'd sail the seven seas as a pirate too.

 Then he'd gotten older and discovered to his chagrin that the state of piracy in the modern era was positively disgraceful. He'd moaned about it incessantly to his mother and Zayn and anyone else who would listen, but was finally forced to sadly accept the fact that the heyday of pirates had come and gone.

 The fascination with the ocean had stuck though. Young Louis spent most of his summers under Zayn’s father's tutelage on his sailboat, learning how to harness the wind while Zayn sprawled across the bow with his face buried in a book, getting a completely unnecessary tan. Zayn liked the ocean well enough as a relaxing place to spend an afternoon, but he hadn't taken much serious interest in it until he’d met Liam in his first year of uni. Zayn’s love of mysteries and Liam’s love of wanting things to make sense had led them to a mutual obsession with the Bermuda Triangle, which had led them to a theory involving radio frequencies, which had led them all to this trip.

 It had been a long time coming. Pride swelled in Louis’ chest as he locked eyes with his two best mates, remembering the countless nights they'd all spent piled into his cramped, smelly dorm room planning for this, sorting out every detail, arguing and learning to work together. Fuck, Louis loved both Zayn and Liam like brothers, he'd easily give his life for either of them.

 A lump rising thickly in his throat, Louis clinked the neck of his beer bottle to theirs. “Cheers lads, we made it. Now it's time for you geeks to do whatever geeks do while I sit back and drink like the sailor I am.”

 

 Two hours later, as advertised, Louis was completely off his face. He staggered back and forth, splashing his beer across the deck, belting out the most annoying, never-ending song ever created. He'd gotten all the way down to “64 bottles of beer on the wall, 64 bottles of beeeeer -”

 “For Christ's sake Louis, will you _shut up,_ ” Zayn groaned miserably, pulling his hoodie up to cover his ears.

 “No! It's a sailor song!”

 “Is it really, though?” Liam rubbed a hand over his eyes.

 Louis paused, considering. “Well, it's a drinking song, which is the same thing basically,” he slurred. “Take one down, pass it aroouund -” Louis leaned over the starboard side, stretching toward the water, fingertips almost touching it. The sun had gone down, the water looked black, ominous. Louis squinted, studying the amorphous shadows moving just under his fingers. He shifted his body weight, stretching further.

 “Louis!”

 The boy startled at Zayn’s shout, jerking his hand back.

 “Louis, legend has it there are giant monsters lying on the ocean floor here, and every now and then they inhale through their massive mouths and suck in everything floating above -”

 “But it's actually just underwater caves that create whirlpools or summat, I know, I know.” Louis waved a hand dismissively.

 “Just thought maybe you'd forgotten, since you're clearly about to feed the monster your drunk arse,” Zayn observed drily. As if to prove his point, the boat pitched suddenly, sending Louis skidding across the deck.

 “Come on mate, time for bed.” Liam pulled him up by the elbow and led him down to the cabin, tucking him into bed fondly. Louis was snoring the moment his head hit the pillow.

 

  _Something was coming, a dark shape rising from the depths, cutting silently through the water. It was heading straight for the boat._

  _Louis gripped the covers uneasily. The hair on the back of his neck stood up._

  _It was stalking him, watching him, he could sense it. It was_ right there, _slithering against the hull, keeping pace with the sloop._

  _With an awful sense of dread Louis turned his head slowly, raised his eyes to the porthole by his bunk and locked eyes with the creature._

  _Except it wasn't a creature at all._ _It was just a boy, an innocent-looking boy with a shock of blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, swimming underwater in the midst of the ocean, flashing Louis a good-natured grin through the porthole. He was quite cute, really, looked like a friendly sort of chap, someone Louis could've met at a pub back home or summat. Of their own accord, his lips curved themselves into an answering smile._

  _The boy's grin widened unnaturally, lips stretching grotesquely as his teeth lengthened into sharp points. Louis stared in horror as the blonde boy's eyes rolled back in his head like a shark, leaving only the whites showing. The creature lunged at the glass, snapping his jaws._

 

 Louis jolted awake and tossed his legs over the bed, propping his throbbing head in his hands. His stomach rolled threateningly and he staggered up the narrow stairs, stumbling to the side of the boat just in time. His stomach lurched again and again as he vomited over the side.

 Liam chuckled from the captain's chair.

 “Shut up,” Louis grumbled, spitting into the water. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow and flopped weakly into a sitting position on the deck. “Go to bed Liam, I'll take over.”

 “You sure Tommo? Your shift’s not up for another four hours.”

 “Yeah lad, go on, I can't sleep anyway.”

 Liam clapped his shoulder gratefully and made his way downstairs.

 Louis slumped into the captain's chair, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't get the image of the nightmarish creature out of his head, the laughing blue eyes rolling back to blank white spheres, the awful, barracuda-like teeth. It had seemed _so real,_ right there looking in at him lying in his bunk. Louis shuddered.

 Finally the sun peeked over the horizon, painting away the night's terrors with soft pastel oranges and pinks. Zayn and Liam rose with it, anxious to get started on their experiments. They sank sensors deep into the ocean and repeatedly blasted radio waves through the water, recording readings periodically, getting more and more excited as the day wore on.

 That evening Zayn and Liam pored over logbooks, double-checking calculations and murmuring excitedly to each other. Louis was usually bored by their nerdy science mumbo-jumbo, but his curiosity got the better of him and he plopped down on the floor  beside them.

 “So what's got you two buzzing? In English please.”

 Liam looked up, smiling, pleased by Louis’ interest. He threw an arm around the lad and pulled him in closer, spreading papers out dramatically.

 “The conductivity is _insane_  here, it's better than anything we expected to find.” Liam gestured at the columns and charts in front of him, pointing out certain numbers and figures.

 “And what does that mean exactly?”

 “Well, we don't know just yet, it's just an observation. An incredible observation, if we're calculating everything correctly, and I'm quite certain we are. We've gone over it a thousand times today.” Liam spoke even faster than normal, his words falling into each other like dominoes. “Radio waves don't normally travel well underwater unless it's extremely low frequencies and even then it's iffy, but _here_  -” he waved a hand over the papers. “- it's _astounding_.”

 “If by astounding you mean frustrating as fuck,” Zayn grumbled. “In the majority of disappearances in this area, people initially had trouble with their electronics, SOS messages getting cut off, nothing coming through but static, etc. If conductivity is truly so much higher here, no one should _ever_  have problems with their radio transmissions. It doesn't make any sense, I think our equipment is off.”

 “It's not!” Liam protested. “I promise you, the equipment is fine, Zaynie bear.”

 He turned to Louis and spoke almost reverently. “Mate, I think we're about to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the world. All we have to do is figure out what this means in terms of the disappearances. We're _so close_ , I can feel it.”

 Their excitement was catchy. Louis grinned and pulled himself to his feet, walking behind his friends to clap a hand on each of their backs. “Carry on then lads, make Daddy rich and famous.” Louis laid an obnoxiously loud smooch on each of their cheeks, smirking as Zayn shoved him away in mock disgust.

 

 Louis volunteered for the night shift again, knowing Liam and Zayn would want to be sharp to continue their experiments the following day. They thanked him profusely and disappeared downstairs together.

 Soon after, Louis began to register some very suspicious sounds coming from below deck. He crept to the cabin door and pressed his ear against it, smirking at the soft moans and muffled curses coming from within. He was so going to make their lives hell teasing them about this tomorrow.

 Louis sauntered across the deck to adjust the sails for the night when something caught his eye, an odd glittering in the water in the distance. He thought it was a school of mackerel, maybe, but as he focused harder on it, it didn't really look like a school of anything. No, it looked more like one thing, just floating there, moving either very slowly or not at all, its scales catching the light brilliantly. Louis squinted and swore he saw two eyes glowing back at him in the darkness, catlike. He blinked and it was gone.

 The uneasiness of last night's dream crept over him again as Louis carefully scanned the water. He sank into the captain's chair and rubbed his eyes, willing the prickling in his spine to go away.

 An hour or two passed before he noticed it again, glittering at about the same distance from the boat. Louis rose cautiously and stole across the deck to the mast, peering across the water, trying to ignore the images of flat white eyes and sharp teeth flashing through his brain.

 The glittery something disappeared, but Louis couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. His gaze darted nervously over the choppy black waves, his hands grew clammy where they white-knuckled the mast. Finally he spotted it again, this time much closer to the boat and moving steadily closer.

 Louis broke out in a cold sweat, eyes trained on the large object gliding just below the surface. A low hum filled his ears. His hands trembled, threatening to slip off the mast. The thing was 20 feet from the boat now, then 10… as if in slow motion, the creature broke the surface of the water. Louis tried to scream, to run, but he was frozen in terror.

 It was a boy, just like in his dream, only this wasn't the same boy. This was the most beautiful boy Louis had ever seen. This stunning creature had dark shoulder-length hair slicked off his face, a sharp, defined jawline, and perfectly sculpted pink lips, slightly parted because he was _singing._  Or something like singing. There were no words, just an ethereal, resonant melody that swelled and diminished like the waves. It was the most hauntingly lovely sound Louis had ever experienced. This was what heaven must sound like, angels could not do better than this. The rich tones vibrated in his blood, lulling away his fear like a mother's lullaby.

 The angelic creature drew steadily closer and Louis slowly walked to meet him, as if in a dream. He dropped to his knees at the side of the boat and rested his arms on the ledge, gazing in wonder at the beautiful boy. His eyes were a rich emerald, sparkling brightly like actual gemstones. The boy’s milky skin had an opalescent quality, shimmering just slightly under the moonlight.

 He was almost close enough to touch, and Louis wanted to, more than he'd ever wanted anything. He reached out for him, and the green-eyed  boy smiled dazzlingly, showing off perfectly white, perfectly _human_  teeth and a pair of deep, heart-stopping dimples. He raised a hand as if to touch Louis’ face - a _webbed_  hand with green fingernails that perfectly matched his eyes - but then he seemed to think better of it and the hand dropped below the surface.

 The boy turned quickly and swam away, long glittery tail undulating behind him. His _tail._  His _mermaid’s tail_ , because he was a _mermaid_ , a _siren_ , Louis thought wildly. The last note of the siren’s song unwound itself from Louis’ veins, leaving his blood cold. Louis sank shakily onto the deck as a confusing wave of emotions washed over him. He knew he'd never met the boy before, he would have remembered, but something about him had seemed… familiar, somehow, and now that he was gone, Louis felt an odd sense of bereavement, like he had lost something he’d desperately loved. Some _one_ he'd loved.

 Louis’ immediate thought was to run and wake Liam and Zayn, but what would he tell them? That the most beautiful boy he'd ever laid eyes on swam up to the boat and sang to him like one of God's angels? Considering they were still hundreds of miles off the coast, that was pretty illogical. That he saw a mermaid? Zayn would laugh, and Liam would calmly remind Louis that he'd barely slept last night, therefore he had probably drifted off while on watch without realizing it, and his tired brain was playing tricks on him and making him think his dreams were reality.

 Just picturing Liam explaining that calmed Louis somewhat. Maybe that was what had happened. It was easily the most logical explanation. His mind raced all night, running through all possible scenarios over and over. When morning finally broke and Liam and Zayn emerged from below deck, Louis could have hugged them.

 “Sleep well, lads?” he asked brightly.

 Zayn hummed in affirmation, rubbing his eyes.

 Liam stretched, yawning. “The wind woke me up, howling like mad. Did you hear it Zaynie?”

 Zayn shook his head and Louis’ stomach flipped uncomfortably. There had been barely a whisper of wind last night, certainly no howling. It had been clear and calm all night long.

 “It was relaxing though, sounded kinda musical,” Liam continued. “Put me right back to sleep, listening to it.” Liam rubbed his hands together, clearly already plotting out today's work. “Alright then, Louis, get some sleep mate, you gotta be knackered.”

 Louis opened his mouth to say something, to ask Liam… something, but his exhausted brain refused to come up with a reasonable question, so he closed his mouth and shuffled downstairs. He pulled back the covers and settled into his bunk, but he couldn't quiet his mind enough to sleep. He kept staring apprehensively at the porthole, watching the water rush past, hoping not to see anything else but unable to look away. Finally he threw the covers off and marched up the stairs.

 Liam glanced at him, eyebrows raised. “Alright, mate?”

 Louis grunted moodily and snatched the logbook out of Zayn’s hands, ignoring his sound of protest. Louis flipped to the back, ripped out several blank pages and stormed back to his bunk where he taped the pages up to cover the porthole. Huffing out a sigh, Louis popped some earbuds in and lay back, hoping to be lulled to sleep by the Backstreet Boys.

 Half an hour later, Louis was still no closer to sleep, so he trudged wearily up the stairs, pulling out his earbuds. A cacophony of shrill notes instantly assaulted his eardrums, terribly beautiful harmonies building on each other, swelling - Louis jammed his earbud back in, immediately recognizing the ethereal sound from last night. A siren’s song. No, _sirens_ , plural. The echo still ringing in his head had to be coming from multiple.

 Louis leapt up the remaining stairs and burst through the cabin door, feeling the air vibrating heavily around his body. The water around the boat was a seething cauldron, glittering blindingly, teaming with mermaids, two of which had locked eyes with Liam and Zayn. Louis shouted, but it was as if they didn't hear him under the spell of the beautiful creatures.

 Before Louis could move, the siren enchanting Liam gripped the side of the boat, her lithe body rising out of the water. She draped a long arm gracefully around Liam’s neck and pulled him closer to her. Her lips stretched over a widening jaw, her eyes rolled back into a blank, white stare, and she opened her mouth and sank her terrible teeth into Liam’s shoulder. He didn't even flinch. Louis screamed and dashed toward his friend, but he wasn't fast enough. The siren whipped her long blonde hair and tugged Liam’s pliant body over the side, both of them disappearing under the surface.

 Zayn! Louis whirled just in time to witness a stunning brunette stroking a slim webbed hand over Zayn’s hair, pulling him in, her lips parting as her teeth lengthened -

 Louis’ body was ripped backward by his shirt. His feet left the deck and he was yanked violently over the edge, plunged into icy water.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I had only planned on writing this fic from Louis' POV, but Harry is such a Disney princess. I couldn't resist writing him doing Little Mermaid shit with his sidekick Niall. So I'll probably be alternating POVs with every chapter from here on out.
> 
> Also, there's sort of a past lives backstory coming into play, I hope it isn't confusing. I considered leaving it out, but I feel like it adds something to the overall plot.

 Harry fluttered his tail delicately along the sand, carving an intricate pattern in the sea bed. He floated above it carefully, trying to hover just above without making a current and destroying his artwork. He'd learned this from watching puffer fish. The male puffer fish would spend hours creating elaborate underwater sand sculptures in the hopes that a female would come along and like his designs. Then they would get married and have babies and live happily ever after. Basically.

 Harry had observed the puffers for weeks at a time, watching them get almost finished with a masterpiece, only for another fish to swim past and unwittingly destroy it. Usually a stingray. Fucking stingrays. Bullies of the sea, they are, never have any regard for the feelings of others.

 Harry frowned down at his sand art. It still needed just a bit more pizzazz. He drifted down and added a few more bold flourishes and swirly hearts. There. He smiled happily. Perfect.

   _Oh no._

 Niall was coming. Harry could sense his presence hurtling through the water like a torpedo. He took one last lingering look at his masterpiece before - whoosh - sand blew up around him in a tan cloud.

 “Harryyyy!” Niall grabbed his hands and spun him around like an excited puppy. “You gotta come see this!”

 Harry giggled in spite of himself. “See what?”

 “Just come on, I'll tell you on the way.” Niall flipped and sped off, setting a furious pace, tail undulating swiftly behind him. Harry hurried to catch up.

 “So I was just swimming around minding my own business, right -” Harry hid a smirk at that. Niall’s business mostly consisted of finding out what everyone else was up to at all times. “- when suddenly I hear this dreadful buzzing noise, and you were in the area so I thought I'd come grab my best mate to help me check it out.”

 Harry huffed, blowing bubbles out of his nose. “You idiot, it's probably just a boat motor. And I spent _hours_  making a massive sand art about a pear tree and a blueberry bush who fell in love despite their differences, and you just come along and - _oh God_!” Harry jolted to a stop and clapped both hands over his ears as a sharp buzz vibrated painfully through his skull.

 Niall’s boyish face scrunched up in discomfort, fingers plugging his ears. After a few seconds the buzzing stopped and he turned to Harry, blue eyes dancing, his whole face alight with excitement. “It's _awful,_  isn't it!? Let's go find it!”

 One of the best things about being a siren in the Bermuda Triangle was this enhanced sort of built-in locator. Harry had read about dolphins having a sense called echo-location, and it seemed to be the closest thing to what mermaids have. Theirs was more of a mental thing though - mermaids could reach out with their minds and sense any other living beings in the vicinity. The range was quite limited in most of the ocean, which is why most of their kind eventually migrated to the Bermuda Triangle. Here, if you focused hard enough, you could locate anyone almost everywhere in the Triangle, with a few exceptions. It was a veritable haven for sirens. They lived like kings and queens here, and the Triangle was massive so there was plenty of room for everyone.

 The nirvana-like environment fostered a sense of community among the sirens. They all loved living here, so if they couldn't get along, they at least stayed out of each other's way. They tended to form little tribes, cliques as it were. Niall got along with everyone, affable Irish lad that he was. Harry kept to himself mostly, other than hanging out with Niall. They'd found this place together, many years ago. Harry likely wouldn't be alive today without Niall, he was the best friend he'd ever had.

 The painful noise grated through the water again, louder this time. Harry cringed and instinctively blasted back at it, opening his mouth wide to let loose a few piercing notes, blocking the sound waves.

 Niall clapped a hand over Harry's mouth. “Don't do that!” he scolded. “Don't want them to hear us.”

 The sound stopped again and the boys focused, scanning the area. Harry didn't feel any other mermaids in the immediate vicinity. There were lots of fish and other sea creatures, of course, and several humans fairly close by.

 “It's gotta be that boat that just crossed the border,” he decided. “Three people, I think.”

 Niall hummed in assent and swam off in the direction of the three humans, Harry following in his wake.

 As they neared the vessel, they rose steadily until they were circling the dark shape of the hull, silhouetted against the sky. As they watched, the humans dipped something into the water and the noise ripped through the depths again, deafening from this proximity. It cut like razorblades through Harry's brain. It was all he could do to force himself not to block it with his siren’s song.

 The sound finally stopped and Harry shook his head, banging a palm against his temple. “What _is_  that? What are they doing?”

 “Well, I'm guessing _that-_ ” Niall pointed up solemnly at the device the humans were lifting back into the boat “-is what is making the water loud.”

 “No shit, Sherlock.” Harry rolled his eyes.

 Niall rolled his right back. “Why do you say that? Who even is Sherlock?”

 “It's an expression the humans are using now,” Harry explained. “See, Sherlock was a detective. Well, not a real one, he was in a book that -”

 “Oh I don't care, Harry. I'm a merman, I have no desire to go ashore and play human like you,” Niall said absently, squinting up at the boat.

 Harry sank a few inches. “I don't… I don't _play human_ , Niall, I just -”

 Niall swept behind him, twirling Harry's hair playfully. “I didn't mean it like that, mate, I think it's great that you have interests. I'm gonna head up, I gotta see what these bastards look like. Cover me.”

 And with that, Niall was off, spiraling up toward the right side of the boat. Harry shot off to the left, a good hundred feet away, before starting to splash around in the waves, making a good racket to attract the attention of the humans. Harry was great at diversions. He and Niall did this all the time when they were bored, or whenever Niall felt like indulging his nosy streak.

 Harry was just perfecting what he thought was an epic water wheel effect when Niall grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him down, plummeting them toward the ocean floor at a dizzying speed.

 “What were they doing? What's -” The words died on Harry's tongue when he saw his friend's face. Niall looked like he'd seen a ghost. His jaw was set, his eyes were wide, and he was staring straight ahead, not looking at Harry.

 Harry jerked his tail hard, jolting to a stop. Niall whipped around to face him, still refusing to let go of his wrist. He looked terrified.

 Niall let go of Harry's wrist only to grab his face with both hands, looking him in the eyes, pleading. “You can't go up there, Harry. Please promise me you won't ever go near them again.” Niall sounded almost manic. “Please, you can't. Stay away from that boat Harry, promise me!”

 “Ok, ok!” Harry agreed, bewildered.

 “Promise?” Niall’s wide blue eyes searched his face.

 “Sure Niall, I'll stay away from them. But _why_  though, what were they doing?” Harry was genuinely scared now. He'd never seen Niall act like this, not in all the years he'd known him.

 “Nothing, just forget about them.” Niall was back to avoiding eye contact, swimming just fast enough to stay a length ahead of Harry.

 Harry flapped his tail a few times, jumping forward enough to peer at Niall’s stony profile. “I mean, if they're doing something that bad then you should tell me about it, right?” he pressed nervously. “Like if we're in danger, I think I should probably know about it.”

 There was a long pause. When Niall finally spoke, it was in a soft, sad tone. “It wasn't what they were doing, Harry. Nobody's in danger, alright.”

 

 Harry spent the next few hours trying to get more information with no luck. The most Niall would mention of the mysterious humans was to remind Harry several times that he had promised not to go near them. Harry finally swam off in defeat. He tried to distract himself with some new sand art, then he made a few bracelets out of seaweed and shells, but his mind kept drifting. What could be so awful about the boat if it wasn't dangerous? What could Niall have possibly seen to make him act so strangely? Harry finally decided to just find him again. Maybe if he kept bugging him about it, he'd eventually give in and spill the beans.

 Harry zeroed in on Niall’s location and, to his surprise, found him right next to the forbidden boat. A spark of anger sizzled. His best friend didn't keep secrets from him usually, how dare he? However... Harry's righteous indignation soon turned to worry. What if the humans _were_  dangerous, and Niall had been trying to save him from whatever and had waited until nightfall to go confront the threat on his own?

 Harry made up his mind. He couldn't let anything happen to Niall. He shot recklessly through the water, only slowing when he was close enough to glimpse the blonde merman chasing the boat. Harry followed a distance behind, just watching Niall watching the humans. Everything seemed safe enough, nothing strange was happening at all. Niall sped up, swimming closer and closer until he was right next to the hull, staring into the cabin through a porthole. Why would he be so reckless? Why would he risk being seen?

 Harry gasped in shock as Niall went into full attack mode and lunged at the glass. Harry started forward to help his friend but stopped when Niall immediately transformed his face back to its normal conditions and swam away casually. What the…

 Fuck it, this was too weird. Harry waited until Niall was out of sight, then he swam determinedly toward the boat. Harry never broke promises, but this was an exception. These humans were clearly a threat somehow, and he couldn't just sit idly by and wait for something bad to happen.

 Harry surfaced a distance away. He could make out one boy sitting in the captain's chair. As he watched, the cabin door flew open and another boy rushed to vomit over the side. Gross. This was the perfect chance to get a good look though. Harry sped forward, wrinkling his nose as he dodged the cloud of vomit. The boy seemed to be done puking, thank God. Harry rose silently and peered through the water at his pale face still hanging over the side.

 Feathery brown hair framed soft, delicate features, making up a face almost too pretty for a boy to possess. Harry felt like a cement block had been dropped on his chest. He knew that face. He saw it in his dreams still, the perfect boy grinning so hard his eyes crinkled at the corners while playfully throwing shells in Harry's lap, then jumping on top of him to kiss him, his pretty lips murmuring “je t’aime” in a high raspy angel voice. The exquisite face of the only boy Harry had ever loved.

 Harry stared dazedly until the outline of the boy disappeared from view, then he turned numbly to race after Niall. His eyes burned, he trembled with confused rage.

 Niall must have sensed him coming, as he came into view Harry noticed he had turned and was hovering in the water, gazing at him apprehensively. Harry wanted to yell, he wanted to _hit him_ , but instead he drifted to a stop, staring brokenly at Niall’s worried face. Harry felt a silent sob rack his body.

 “It's Frederic,” he choked out.

 “Harry, you're wrong.” Niall reached for him but Harry jerked away. He felt like he was in a fog, he could barely see, couldn't feel his body, couldn't feel anything but the old wound in his chest that had just been ripped open. Niall was talking, but Harry couldn't hear him. This wasn't possible. He turned and swam back the way he'd come.

 Niall blocked his path with his hands held out, webbed fingers spread wide. “Where are you going? Harry, stop.”

 “Have to go to him,” Harry murmured, moving around the blonde.

 “It's not him, Harry!” Niall stopped him with a hand on his arm.

 Harry spun to face him, eyes snapping with fury. “ _I saw him, Niall!_ How could you not tell me? How? My Frederic -”

 “Frederic’s dead!” Niall shouted, gripping Harry's shoulders. “Frederic is dead Harry, I helped you bury him 70 years ago! That boy -” Niall wrapped his arms around Harry's shaking body, squeezing him like he was trying to hold all his broken parts together. His voice was tender now, equal parts gentle and firm. “That boy is not Frederic, I've been watching him all day, ever since you left. His name is Louis, that's what the other two called him. I don't know why he looks so much like… I don't know why, Harry, but it's not.”

 Harry lifted his head from his best friend’s shoulder. “Can we - I need to go look at him.”

 “I don't think that's the best idea, mate.”

 Harry willed his voice not to quaver. “Niall, I have to,” he said firmly.

 Niall carefully loosened his grip on Harry. He rubbed his back comfortingly a few times. “Yea, I guess I get that,” he said finally. He slid his hand into Harry's, gripped it firmly, and let him set the pace.

 

 They followed the boat all night. Frederic - no, _Louis_  had taken the other boy's place in the captain's chair, so they had an unhindered view and didn't have to resort to such sketchy measures as peeping through portholes.

 “Why did you do that?” Harry asked suddenly.

 “Do what?”

 “Looked at him through the porthole like a creep. And then you _attacked_ it? He could have seen you!”

 “He did see me.” Niall looked embarrassed. “I just wanted to get a better look at him, but then he saw me and I didn't know what to do so I figured if I scare him bad enough maybe they'd leave, which would've been perfect cause I didn't want you to see him anyway. I thought it was quite brilliant,” he admitted.

 “Brilliant?! Well they don't seem to be leaving, do they Niall? And now he's seen you.” Harry was struck by an awful thought. “Niall, what if he tells someone? What if they kill him like Frederic?”

 “That's not gonna happen, he probably just thinks he's crazy,” Niall grinned confidently. “Besides, he's not Frederic, so who cares what happens to him, really.”

 Harry shot him a panicked look.

 “Ok, you care.” Niall sighed. “I'm sorry. Look, nothing’s gonna happen to him mate, I'll make sure of it.”

 

 Morning broke and the other two humans started “making the water loud” again. Harry didn't want to leave, but he couldn't take the horrible buzzing and didn't want to subject his best friend to it either, so they swam away, lingering just far enough away from the boat that they could still just barely hear the sound.

 As the day wore on, Harry became oddly dependent upon the faint buzz. He hated it because every time it sounded, Harry's brain would flash images of the boy in the boat, muddled unhelpfully with images of the boy he'd loved, but Harry loved the quiet buzz because that meant his boy - no, the boy who looked like his boy - was still here, only a short swim away. It was emotional torture. Niall, being the best friend that he was, tried his hardest to distract Harry from his mental hell with little luck. He shot him countless worried glances when he thought Harry wasn't looking. By noon Harry felt wrung out, totally and completely exhausted.

 Things went from bad to worse when they sensed another merman close by. He was much closer to the boat than Harry and Niall were, so he was definitely hearing the curious buzzing emanating from it.

 “Fucking Nick,” Niall swore. “I'll go talk to him.” He sped off, leaving Harry waiting anxiously.

 Niall came back a few minutes later with bad news. “The wanker got away, probably heading to tell Taylor and her bitches about the humans.” Niall ran a hand over his face worriedly. “Stay here, I'm gonna go try to talk to them, ok?”

 Harry nodded, wide-eyed. “Niall please, I can't let anything happen to him, not again.”

 “I know mate, I'll take care of it.” Niall pulled him in for a tight hug. “I love you Harry, don't do anything dumb, ok?”

 “Love you too, please be careful.”

 “I'll be fine. Bitches love me.” Niall tossed his blonde hair with a boyish grin.

 

 Night fell and Niall wasn't back. Harry didn't really expect him to be, Taylor's regular stomping grounds were hours away, but he still couldn't help worrying. Taylor and her crew were typical sirens, heartless creatures who loved nothing more than toying with humans and eventually dragging them to their deaths. With the added novelty of whatever these particular humans were doing to the waters, Harry had no doubt Taylor would be very interested. His stomach twisted with dread as he gazed longingly at the pretty lad on deck again tonight. He couldn't let anyone hurt him. He wouldn't.

 Harry rose to the surface, no longer caring much about not being seen. Maybe Niall had the right idea, maybe he should be trying to scare the humans away. Harry noticed the boy, Louis, staring in his direction a few times. He was far enough away though that Harry knew he couldn't be seen too clearly. But what if… what if he _let_  Louis see him up close? Harry's heart raced at the thought. Desperate times and all. Maybe the sight of him would be enough to scare the humans into leaving the Triangle immediately, sailing to safety before Taylor even caught wind of them.

 Harry drifted closer to the sailboat, watching the boy get up and move to the mast. His posture was stiff, frightened. He'd definitely seen him. Harry's heart suddenly ached. No, he couldn't do it, not like this. Harry knew he was being selfish, but he just couldn't handle the thought of Louis being afraid of him.

 The siren parted his lips and began singing lowly. The pretty lad’s small body started to relax. Heart in his throat, Harry rose out of the water, singing just for his boy, his achingly beautiful boy. Harry drank in the sight of him. His eyes throbbed with the strain as he tried to memorize every detail.

 Harry kept reminding himself that this was not Frederic. It was hard to reconcile the face of the boy he'd once loved with this boy who he didn't know. _Louis_. It was a good name. A royal name, like King Louis. It fit.

 Louis reached out for him and Harry's heart burst with pure, unbidden joy. He instinctively reached back but stopped himself. Harry _wanted_  - God, he so wanted to let Louis’ small, delicate hand caress his cheek, he would nuzzle into it, press a kiss into his warm palm. But he couldn't. This boy didn't belong to him, didn't even know him. He was under the spell of his siren’s song, effectively hypnotized. Harry wouldn't take advantage, it wasn't fair.

 Backing away was one of the hardest things Harry had ever had to do. It felt like ripping his own heart out and leaving it on the boat. He could distinctly feel the bleeding edges of the aching hole in his chest. It was ok, Louis could have it. Harry was beginning to believe his heart was destined to belong to the captivating boy with the pixie face and ocean eyes, no matter what his name was, no matter in which lifetime.

 

 Shit hit the fan when Taylor's posse showed up at dawn. Harry tried to stop them, tried to reason with Taylor, but all he got for his trouble was an eye roll as she swerved around him and set her sights on the muscley human who looked like an action figure come to life. Amid the chaos, Harry saw the cabin door burst open and heard a panicked shout from Louis. Eleanor swept past him, heading toward the boy. Harry hissed “ _Mine!"_ right into her surprised face and hipchecked her, leaping out of the water to snatch the blue-eyed lad off the boat.

 The boy struggled violently in Harry's arms, screaming for his friends. He seemed to have no thought for his own life - he didn't even look at Harry, just thrashed his body and pulled at the arms clasped tightly around his middle as if Harry was nothing but but an obstacle, like he was a bouncer breaking up a bar fight instead of a deadly siren about to plunge Louis to his death at any given moment. Louis shrieked out his friends’ names until his voice was hoarse, watching helplessly as his sailboat got ripped to shreds by the rest of Taylor's crew.

 The boy suddenly went limp in Harry's arms, his head lolling forward into the water. Panicking, Harry hurriedly leaned back and settled Louis’ head onto his shoulder, tucking his face against the boy's. Warm breath wafted against his cheek. Harry sagged in relief. The boy must have simply passed out from shock.

 Harry maneuvered his pliant body until he was carrying him bridal-style. A sickening memory crashed over him at the sight of the unresponsive body in his arms - Frederic’s lifeless form, the water tinted red around them from the blood leaking out of the hole in his chest. Harry screwed his eyes shut, willing the memory away. No, this was _Louis_  and he was _alive_. Harry leaned over him to check again. Yes, still breathing steadily. His heart beat strong in Harry's ear. He was going to be fine.

 Harry had no idea what to do with him now though. He hadn't counted on abducting the boy - he had no plan for this. Harry tried to put himself in Louis’ shoes. What would he want done? His friends were likely dead, his boat had been torn apart… God, he was going to be devastated. Harry gazed down sadly at the beautiful boy in his arms.

 Louis started to stir. His eyelids fluttered. Harry began whispering sweet things to him, recalling some of the French he'd learned from Frederic.

 “Je suis fou de toi, mon cheri.”

 Louis’ blue eyes opened and settled on Harry's face.

 “Tu as de beaux yeux, tu sais,” Harry murmured, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.

 “And the mermaid doesn't speak English, of fucking course,” Louis croaked out.

 Harry blushed red-hot. “No, I do. Umm, I thought you were still French.”

 Louis’ eyes narrowed, surveying Harry like he was questioning his mental acuity. “You thought I was still French,” he repeated slowly.

 God, Harry was an idiot. He sounded crazy. Of course he sounded crazy. “I - I mean, Louis is a French name, yea?” he stuttered.

 “I'm from Doncaster.” Louis stiffened. “Wait, how do you know my name?”

 “We've been watching you,” Harry replied thoughtlessly.

 Louis’ blue eyes filled with angry tears and he kicked out hard, shoving Harry away.

 “You killed my best friends!” he shouted. He scrabbled frantically in the water, doing an odd, panicked version of the backstroke. Harry followed but that only made him panic more, kicking harder, swallowing water.

 Harry held up his hands, palms out. “No, no I didn't! I would never - I never wanted this to happen Louis, I'm so sorry.”

 “Get away from me!”

 Louis’ head dipped under the water and Harry rushed to pull him up, earning himself a punch in the chest.

 “Please let me help you,” he pleaded, rubbing at the sore spot.

 “Help me?! You wanna _help_  me?” Louis’ voice shot up about two octaves. “You're a siren, right? Sirens kill people, so cut the crap!” Louis had stopped trying to get away, now he was shoving Harry, kicking at him. “You wanna kill me? Get it over with, you bastard!”

 Harry barely dodged a brutal punch at his head.

 “Kill me like you fucking killed Zayn and Liam!” Louis sobbed. “They were my brothers, goddammit, you killed my fucking brothers!” His voice was breaking so badly he could barely speak.

 Harry's throat ached. His vision blurred and he realized that he was crying too. God, how had he allowed this to happen? He pulled Louis tightly against his chest, absorbing the vicious blows as the anguished boy continued to punch and kick him. Harry began singing softly into the shell of his ear, continuing to hold him firmly.

 As the siren’s song soothed him, Louis stopped fighting. His body still shook slightly and tears still ran down his lovely face in an endless stream, but he leaned heavily into Harry and allowed himself to be held. Harry stroked his wet hair and rubbed gentle circles into his trembling back, crooning lowly.

 Harry had no idea how long they stayed like that. He stopped singing several times, but the instant the last note faded, Louis would try to swim away. Harry let him a few times and swam silently alongside him, but the boy was weak from crying and fighting. Soon he'd start slipping underwater again and Harry would rush to save him. Louis would of course resist, and they'd end up in the same position, Louis’ small body cradled tightly against Harry's bruised chest while he crooned into his ear.

 Somewhere in the midst of all this though, Harry realized where he was taking Louis. A place he had never shown to anyone but Niall. Harry was taking Louis to his own personal Island of Pala.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the comments and kudos, please keep them coming! Let me know which parts you liked best so I can write more of those. Also, I kinda love writing smut so that is definitely coming. (Pun not intended, it was a happy accident. A happy accident like me lol, oh god let me stop.)


	3. Chapter 3

   The water was frothing with a churning hoard of sirens savagely tearing the _One Direction_  apart with their bare hands and beastly teeth. Oh God, were they ripping apart Zayn and Liam like that too? Louis thrashed around wildly, but he couldn't see them anywhere. He fought with every ounce of strength he possessed to get to them, to _find_  them, but something was clamped around his waist like a vice, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it off. Someone was screaming, a primal, anguished sound. Louis thought for a second that it might be him, but it couldn't be because he couldn't breathe. The shrieking began to sound further and further away and his vision started to blur at the edges. Louis’ final coherent thought was that he must be dying too, then everything went black.

 

 Louis’ body felt buoyant, weightless, like he was floating on a cloud. Like the Care Bears. He wondered if he could slide down rainbows too, that had always looked fun. Why was everything so dark? Oh, duh, because his eyes were closed. If he could only unstick his eyelids, he could look around and see if there were rainbow slides.

 Wait, Care Bears weren't real, and neither were mermaids. Louis finally succeeded in opening his eyes, only to stare directly into the emerald green ones of the mermaid holding him. Huh. Well he certainly looked real. Inconceivably attractive, but real. He also apparently didn't speak English. When Louis informed him of that fact, the mermaid actually blushed. It was cute, the lovely boy's pearly cheeks pinkening as he cast his eyes down demurely and stumbled over his words.

 Suddenly, the previous events came rushing back, and Louis shoved the siren away in horror. He was not a cute, lovely boy, he was a monster, a murderer! Grief and rage twisted through Louis’ body so intensely he couldn't think straight. His body took over on instinct and he lashed out, hot tears nearly blinding him as he punched and kicked at the siren. Somewhere in the back of Louis’ mind he realized that he should be afraid, but he wasn't, he was just hurt. His throat felt raw, but he screamed through it anyway until the mermaid pulled him against his chest and started singing into his ear.

 The siren’s song calmed him down against his will, and Louis hated him for it. He hated the way the hypnotic lullaby numbed his grief enough to make it almost tolerable, hated that it made his mind stop spinning, and he especially hated that the siren’s warm body felt deceptively comforting pressed against him. Louis fought the way his own body gravitated towards the mermaid’s, wanted to cling to him like a lifeline amidst the cold ocean. Which seemed to be his only option actually, because no matter how many times Louis tried to swim away, he would inevitably find himself tucked against the green-eyed boy’s slick chest again. Louis eventually gave up. He was so tired, had no energy left to keep himself afloat anymore, and the mermaid seemed to be intent on keeping him from drowning, so why not let him for now. With a labored sigh, Louis slumped miserably in the strong arms.

 “What's your name then? Do mermaids have names?”

 “I'm Harry. And it's mer _man_. I'm a man.” The merman glanced pointedly down at his own chest, prompting Louis to do the same. “See? No boobs.”

 “I'm perfectly aware that you're a man,” Louis huffed with an exasperated eyeroll. Then he noticed something interesting. He squirmed a bit, pushing back from the siren’s chest to get a better look. “Hey, how many nipples do you have?”

 “Four,” Harry declared proudly, puffing out his chest.

 Louis poked the dark nubs with his finger, ignoring the way the boy flinched a little at the touch. Good, he _should_  feel uncomfortable. Louis considered twisting them for good measure, but discarded that idea on the grounds that it would probably come across as more playful than as a genuine attempt to cause harm. He settled for nudging the boy around a bit as he located all four nipples and poked them in turn, confirming the count. Yep, four.

 “Why?” he demanded.

 “I dunno, decoration?” Harry replied distractedly. “Attach them with some chains and stuff.”

 “Hmm.” Louis wondered if the boy's nipples really were pierced. Did he actually have nipple chains somewhere, stashed in an underwater lair or summat? Louis scowled irritably and tried to look as disinterested as possible.

 “Where are you taking me?”

 “To my island.”

 “You have an island? Where? Are there other mermaids there?” Louis started to panic again, his voice rising. “Are you lot going to roast me over a fire and eat me? Am I your human sacrifice?”

 Harry's chest shook slightly against his back. Louis narrowed his eyes. Was he _laughing_  at him? He twisted around to confront Harry, who immediately wiped the smirk from his face.

 “Nobody else is gonna be there. And we don't eat people, Louis, we're not cannibals.”

 Louis considered. “Well cannibals eat their own kind, and you're not a person, so eating a person wouldn't make you a cannibal.”

 “I am _so_  a person!” Harry protested indignantly.

 Louis raised his eyebrows and looked the siren up and down judgily.

 Harry seemed to wilt a little. “Well, I used to be,” he mumbled.

 “What does that mean? You just woke up one day with flippers and a tail and thought oh I guess I'm a mermaid now, I'll -”

 “Mer _man_! Or siren, if you prefer.”

 Louis huffed. “Fine, merman. So you just became a merman and trotted off to live in the ocean, yea? How does one simply become a merman?”

 Harry ducked his head. “I don't really wanna talk about that right now.”

 Louis tried to decipher the expression on the siren’s face. Sadness, pain, a bit of guilt maybe...?

 “Did you kill someone?” Louis demanded. “Is that how it works? Like werewolves, you have to kill someone to activate the curse?”

 Harry looked appalled. “No, I've never killed anyone, I wouldn't!” His head tilted in confusion. “Wait, werewolves are real?”

 “No, werewolves aren't real.” Louis responded patronizingly, like he was talking to a five year old. Then it registered that a _mermaid_  had just asked him if werewolves were real, and well… “I mean, as far as I know, they're not. I guess maybe they could be,” he finished lamely.

 Both boys were lost in thought for a while, then Louis felt a tentative tap on his upper arm.

 “Hey Louis, I'm not gonna hurt you, I hope you know that.” Harry's emerald eyes were fixed earnestly on Louis’ face. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I swear to you, I wouldn't. I'd never hurt you.”

 Looking into Harry's imploring eyes, Louis kind of believed him. But his brain helpfully flashed him an image of beguiling monsters mercilessly pulling his best friends to their deaths and his stomach flopped.

 “But Zayn and Liam,” Louis blurted.

 Harry flinched and looked away as if the words physically hurt him. Louis was struck with a sudden, wild thought.

 “Hey!” He grabbed Harry's shoulders, shaking him until he turned his gaze reluctantly back to Louis’ face. “Hey, you didn't kill me, right? So maybe Liam and Zayn, maybe your friends didn't kill them either! Is that where you're taking me, are they on the island too?”

 “I don't think so, Louis,” Harry said carefully.

 Louis continued excitedly, his blue eyes alight with hope. “But what if they are though? Do you have, like, a cell phone or something? Can you call your friends and ask them?”

 Louis didn't like the look on Harry's face. It was the same look his mother had worn when she'd had to explain to Louis that his hamster was not lying stiff in the corner because he was chilly, and no, knitting him a warm, hamster-sized jumper would not help.

 “They're not really my friends,” Harry said slowly. “They're more… probably more like what you'd think when you hear the word “siren”. They don't eat people either, but they, umm, they do kill people sometimes. I don't want to tell you your friends are dead, Louis, but that group of sirens is very… protective, I guess? Of us, I mean, like keeping it safe for us to live here. I guess what I'm trying to say is they don't let people see us and live to tell anybody about it.”

 Louis’ eyes filled with tears. He suddenly felt the vastness of the harsh ocean surrounding him and he'd never felt more hopeless. And cold. He was so cold, and what was he supposed to do now? He was going to die too, he knew that now. Of course he wouldn't be allowed to live, Harry had practically just told him so. Harry... Louis hated him, of course, but Harry felt nice, comforting and warm. Louis was going to die anyway, so why shouldn't he take what little comfort he could find in his last moments? With a choked sob, Louis threw his arms around the siren and buried his face in his neck.

 “Oh, baby,” Harry whispered sadly. “I'm so sorry.” His long arms enveloped Louis’ trembling body and he rocked back and forth soothingly, making little comforting sounds. Louis clung to him pathetically. He knew he shouldn't be, probably, but he was just so tired and sad and lost and nothing really mattered anymore, so why not? Harry gave perfect hugs, Louis thought. His body was a lovely mixture of firm, solid strength and soft warmth. The movement of the siren’s tail created a rhythmic current that tickled the bottoms of Louis’ feet. It would have annoyed him under other circumstances, but right now he was too exhausted to care.

 

 Louis awoke when the rush of water under his feet changed to a balmy breeze. He opened his eyes and squinted around, confused. Harry was carrying him, on land?

 “Put me down!” Louis yelped.

 He was deposited unceremoniously onto the soft sand at Harry's feet. _Feet_? Louis scrambled backwards in shock. The thought occurred to him that perhaps a boy owning a pair of feet shouldn't be as alarming as it was, but still. Louis had had just about enough plot twists in the past few days. His eyes traveled up the boy's legs to his big hands covering his crotch, then his gorgeous face, which was dimpling shyly.

 “Sorry,” Harry shrugged sheepishly. “Can't magically make pants appear. Hold on, I'll be right back.” And with that he was running off toward the trees.

 Louis blinked dazedly at the retreating boy's naked bum until it disappeared among the trees. He rose unsteadily and strolled down the beach a bit, glancing around apprehensively every so often, half expecting dinosaurs or centaurs to come barreling out of the woods.

 The only creature that emerged, however, was Harry, jogging toward him wearing a pair of bright yellow shorts that were definitely a size too small for him. Which was fine, really. Why should Louis care that he could make out the entire outline of Harry's -

 Louis tore his gaze up to the boy's smiling face.

 “So you can just grow legs whenever you want?” Louis accused, glaring at Harry as if his legs were a personal betrayal.

 Harry was too busy wiggling his toes in the warm sand to notice Louis’ ire.

 “Well kinda, yea,” he said. “When I'm on land I can have feet, I just can't stay very long. The longest I've ever stayed on land was about a day, I think.” Harry grimaced for a second as if recalling something unpleasant, then his face brightened and he grabbed Louis’ hand. “Come on, let me show you around!”

 Louis stiffened at Harry's hand gripping his. It felt far too intimate. But Harry was tugging on his hand like an excited kid and Louis thought it best not to piss off the menacing siren shapeshifter person, so he closed his fingers around Harry's and allowed himself to be pulled along.

 They came to a stop in front of a haphazard-looking structure made with weathered boards of various shades and sizes, pulled together with lengths of rope and fishing twine. The roof was a blue tarp draped over a few poles and covered with palm fronds layered in a criss cross pattern. Large shells lined the bottom of the shack, and there was even a tiny window.

 “I made it!” Harry announced happily, green eyes sparkling. “I've got loads of stuff inside.” He tugged Louis through the open doorway and dropped his hand so he could rifle through the carefully arranged heaps of clothing and pots and pans and random items. “You can use anything you want. Are you hungry? I think I've got some canned peas left in here somewhere, maybe even some peaches.”

 Louis picked up a mug off the makeshift table and rolled it around his palm. “Where did you get all this stuff?”

 Harry stood up awkwardly, almost bumping his head on the roof. He was quite tall, Louis realized. “I got most of it from ships. Uhh, shipwrecks. And a plane once. And Niall brought me some of it.”

 Louis gulped as he realized that most of those shipwrecks were likely not accidents. He wondered if Harry took part in the carnage. Of course he probably did, he was a siren, after all. Louis set the mug down with a heavy thud.

 “Harry, what is this place? One of the Bermuda islands?”

 Harry scratched his scalp. His hair was drying a little, damp curls were beginning to form around his face and neck.

 “No, it's just a little island. I think I'm the only one who knows it's here actually. Well, me and Niall. I don't know if it even has a name, I haven't been able to find it on a map. I call it Pala. You know, like in the book?”

 Louis stared at him blankly as the realization set in that he was basically stranded on an uncharted island with a merman. No, more like being held captive by a merman.

 When Louis didn't respond, Harry continued. “It's basically a utopian island in a book by Aldous Huxley. It's quite lovely, really. I have the book over there, if you'd like to read it.” He waved a big hand at the stack of books in the corner.

 Louis’ heart was racing. He wasn't sure if he was scared or angry, so he chose angry.

 “Harry, what the fuck?! You're like a ‘good’ siren who doesn't kill people, right, but this is what you do instead? You kidnap people and bring them to this island that _only you_  know about - no, my bad, only you and whoever the fuck Neil is - and you hold them captive here for how long? And for what, Harry? What are you gonna do with me now?”

 “Louis, I just want to help you.” Harry's big eyes were wide and vulnerable. He looked like the picture of innocence.

 “If you wanted to help me you would have brought me to an island with some fucking _people_  on it!” Louis shouted. “Utopian island, give it a rest! Fucking Alcatraz, more like. Why don't you skip the bullshit and call it what it is? You've brought me to your own personal prison island, fucking thanks mate!”

 Harry made a sound of protest and reached out, but Louis knocked his hand away.

 “Get away from me!”

 “But Louis, I -”

 Louis darted out the door with Harry following. Louis spun around and shoved the siren hard. He stumbled back a few steps and opened his mouth as if to sing.

 “No!” Louis shouted. He covered his ears with his palms and shook his head furiously. “Don't do that shit, I hate it, stop!”

 Harry held his hands up in surrender. He was talking, but Louis refused to remove his hands from his ears and listen. He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks and he hated that he was crying again, but he couldn't seem to stop. He wanted his mum, but she was gone, and now so were his best friends. Louis had never felt more alone.

 Harry took a hesitant step forward.

 “Go away!” Louis choked out.

 Harry slowly lifted a hand to touch Louis’ face, tenderly brushing away a tear with his thumb.

 “Please go away,” Louis whispered.

 The beautiful merman stepped back and brought the pad of his thumb to his lips, kissing away Louis' tear. Louis watched silently as Harry made his way to the water, pausing to strip off the yellow shorts and toss them onto the sand. He looked down at the water lapping at his toes, then gazed sadly over his shoulder at Louis for a long moment before diving into the waves. The glittery scales of his tail caught the light for a split second before disappearing with the rest of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was scrolling through Instagram recently and came across a picture of Harry wearing the infamous yellow shorts and thought it's high time those delightful little things make a comeback. And since the fucker won't wear them anymore irl, here's mermaid Harry in yellow shorts, I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

 Well that could've gone better, Harry mused ruefully as he glided away from his island. At least he wasn't having much trouble thinking of the boy as Frederic any longer. Their personalities were very different. Louis was far more… sassy? Yes, sassy seemed like a good term. Harry smiled fondly. Bit of a firecracker, that one.

 Harry really hoped Louis would learn to like him eventually. He tried not to take his words to heart - he understood where the boy was coming from, after all. But Alcatraz though? That was a bit harsh. Harry hadn't meant for Louis to feel like a prisoner in any way. He'd only brought him to Pala because the closest inhabited island was hundreds of miles away. Not too far for a siren, but for a human? Louis would never make it, he'd die from dehydration or exposure. It was spring so the weather had been generally balmy, but the water was still much too cold for a human to tolerate for long.

 Harry hoped Louis would be alright on the island for now, as he still had no idea what to do with him from here. He needed to talk to Niall. Niall would probably be pissed at Harry for what he'd done, but what were best friends for if not to help you through the results of your own questionable decisions? Harry reached out with his mind to locate Niall, but he couldn't get a reading on him. Puzzled, he reached further and further with no luck. The siren summoned all of his strength and pushed further than he ever had, until he was scanning the entire Bermuda Triangle. Niall was nowhere to be found.

 Harry was full on panicking now. He tore through the water at top speed, stopping every so often to focus hard and scan the area again. After close to an hour of this, Harry's head was pounding with an excruciating headache, and he was convinced that Niall was nowhere in the Triangle.

 Why would he leave though? It was dangerous out there for merpeople. Compared to the perfect clarity they enjoyed within the Triangle, outside of it was like driving with all your windows frosted over except for a small circle directly in front of you. After migrating to the Bermuda Triangle, Harry and Niall had never left, other than a few short dips out just to satisfy their curiosity when they were bored. Harry couldn't comprehend a single reason why Niall would have ventured out alone, especially without even telling Harry he was going. But that was the only explanation he could think of for why he could no longer feel the blonde's presence. Unless Niall was… Harry couldn't even _think_  the word, but what if something horrible had happened to his best friend?

  _No_. No, no, no! Harry shook his head vigorously, as if the awful thought was written on an Etch-A-Sketch that he could simply shake to erase. No, Niall was fine. He was probably off on some spur of the moment adventure that he simply hadn't had time to tell Harry about beforehand.

 He just needed to track Niall down somehow. Think Harry, think. If this was a mystery novel, what would the detective do? This is a missing persons case, so… oh! Harry brightened. Obviously you'd start with where the person was last seen. How would he know where Niall was last seen though? The last place Harry had seen his friend was when he’d left to try to convince Taylor and her crew not to attack Louis’ boat. Shit. That meant he had to go talk to Taylor himself and find out if she knew where Niall went. Harry grimaced, then determinedly set his jaw and swam off to complete the unpleasant task.

 

 Harry found the mermaid getting her long blonde hair braided as she reclined on a plush couch that had undoubtedly been torn from the yacht of some poor unfortunate soul.

 “Harry,” she intoned, regarding him haughtily. “Couldn't you knock?”

 Harry incredulously surveyed the open water surrounding them.

 “Where?” he asked flatly, trying to keep the irritation from his expression.

 Taylor rolled her eyes and Harry gritted his teeth. Now was not the time to let her antagonize him. He plastered a fake smile onto his face.

 “So… how’ve you been?”

 “What do you want, Harry?” Taylor snapped.

 So they weren't going to suffer through forced pleasantries today. Good. Harry dropped his manufactured demeanor and cut straight to the point.

 “Where's Niall?”

 Taylor waved a slim hand irritably. “How should I know?”

 “Because the last time I talked to him he was heading off to see you, and now I can't find him anywhere!”

 “Oh, right.” Taylor's lips twisted in sardonic amusement. She shot her companion a knowing look, and the aesthetic brunette giggled around a hairpin caught between her teeth, her slender fingers still working in Taylor's hair.

 “What have you done with him?” Harry's voice rose a bit in poorly-concealed panic.

 “What have I done with him?” Taylor lay a hand over her heart mockingly, pretending to be affronted by the question. “Oh come now, I haven't done anything with your little friend, don't go blaming me if he prefers the company of his new pets to yours. Run along now, you're interrupting my me-time.”

 “But you saw him last and you clearly know -”

 “I said go!” Taylor narrowed her eyes threateningly. “Don't make me release Silas.”

 Harry's flesh crawled at the mention of the revolting giant squid Taylor kept in a cage like an attack dog. He'd never seen her actually turn Silas loose on anyone and didn't care to - the threat of the foul creature was more than enough. He shuddered and turned to leave.

 “Oh! When you find your little friend, tell him I want my dinner by Sunday!” Taylor's shrill voice carried after him.

 “Dinner?” Harry frowned in confusion, but he got nothing but laughter in response and knew better than to press for any more clarification.

 Harry swam off at a ponderous pace, unsure of what to do from here. He scoured the Triangle again and still found no trace of Niall. Harry replayed Taylor's words in his head and wondered what new pets she had been referring to. He secretly hoped for seahorses. They were so friendly, and the males had the babies and Harry thought that was lovely. He loved letting them hang onto him with their little tails wrapped around his fingertips. He'd once carried around a pregnant daddy seahorse for three days straight until he'd finally given birth while still clinging onto a lock of Harry's hair. Harry had been so proud and so in awe watching the dozens of teeny tiny baby seahorses swirling around his head, but then the daddy had eaten a few of his own kids and Harry couldn't look at him the same way anymore, so he’d carefully detached the seahorse from his hair and left them to it.

  Speaking of eating, Harry suddenly realized that he hadn't eaten all day. Shit, Louis must be hungry too! Guilt washed over him at the realization. He'd gotten so caught up in looking for Niall that he hadn't taken time to fully consider Louis’ needs. There was some food at Pala - some cans of stuff probably, and fruit and other edibles growing on the island - but Louis might be too upset to attempt finding anything, and Harry didn't want his boy to be sad _and_  hungry. Harry made his way back to the island as quickly as possible, catching an assortment of his favorite fish along the way.

 By the time he finally arrived at Pala, night had fallen. Harry padded up the beach, the cool night air feeling strange against his skin. Pala had always been his own private sanctuary, but right now he felt somewhat as if he were trespassing. Louis had told him to leave, after all, and Harry wanted to respect his need for space, but he also didn't want the boy to feel like he'd abandoned him.

 Harry crept up to the shack and peered through the window. Moonlight illuminated a sleeping Louis, his little body curled up tightly under a mound of Harry's clothes. He looked so peaceful and lovely, his perfect face almost angelic in the moonlight, but his eyes were a bit puffy from crying, his button nose a bit too pink, and Harry's heart hurt. He wanted nothing more than to slide in behind the boy and pull his small body into his arms, to hold him tight and snuggle him until he couldn't feel alone anymore, until he knew just how wonderful and special he was.

 Harry tore his gaze from the sleeping lad and stole soundlessly back down the path. Where the trail opened onto the beach at the edge of the woods Harry dropped to his knees and dug a large hole in the sand on the side of the trail where Louis would be sure to see it in the morning. He deposited the fish into it and rose, brushing off his knees and staring wistfully down the path. He should go now, definitely. The last thing he needed was for Louis to wake and find him skulking around like a creep. But just to leave Louis a hole in the sand filled with stinky fish? That would be quite crude, Harry thought. A practical gift, yes, but not a very pleasant one. He had some class, after all.

 After deliberating for a second, Harry jogged off to the east side of the island. He threw an anxious glance up at the inky sky pinpricked with a million twinkling stars, hoping he had enough time to pull this off before sunrise.

 Harry arrived at his destination and grinned as he scanned the moonlit clearing, rubbing his palms together in excitement. It was still early spring, but not too early for flowers. The siren hummed softly to himself as he meandered through the field of nodding blossoms and selected a bouquet of blues and whites, at the last minute stumbling upon a gorgeous blushing coral pink that simply had to be added. The rosy hue reminded Harry of Louis’ lips and the gods had clearly done everything right when they'd paired that lovely pink with the ocean blue of Louis’ eyes, so Harry felt supremely confident that it was a solid color palette choice. He smiled in satisfaction at his finished bouquet, making a few final adjustments to the arrangement before dashing off to attempt to beat the sunrise to Louis.

 

 Harry trotted across the beach amid the pale grey wash of pre-dawn, that in-between period of time that always felt illicit somehow, like Mother Nature was an old fashioned Victorian lady who was “putting her face on,” and you weren't really meant to be privy to it. Harry leaned over to catch his breath, then he heard a soft cough and jerked to attention. His gaze snapped to the trailhead where Louis stood watching him, looking all soft and pliant and sleepy.

  Harry cleared his throat awkwardly and looked down at his hands that were still clasped around the freshly picked bouquet. He stepped forward haltingly and held it out to Louis. The boy's sleep-warm fingers brushed Harry's as he accepted the flowers and slowly turned them around in his hands, viewing the arrangement from all angles. Harry hoped he didn't think it was weird, giving flowers to a boy. Louis buried his nose in one of the pink ones and inhaled, then brushed the petals gently with his fingertips.

 “Pretty,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

 “Pretty like you,” Harry blurted, then quickly averted his eyes. Too much, Harry, too much - you've only just met him and he probably hates you. Harry raised his gaze shyly to glimpse a blush creeping over Louis’ high cheekbones. The boy peered over at the hole in the sand, frowning slightly at the fish.

 “I thought you might be hungry,” Harry explained.

 “Yea.” Louis stared at the fish blankly before shooting Harry a sheepish half-smile. “What do I do with them though? I never went to Boy Scouts, never learned how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together.”

 “Oh, I have lighters!” Harry darted down the path and rummaged through several boxes before finding one that worked and rejoining Louis, who was busily collecting driftwood in a pile.

 

 A few hours later, after many false starts and a good amount of choice language, the boys finally had a heap of successfully cooked fish. It was a little sandy and much of it resembled charcoal more than meat, but after peeling away the blackened exterior, it was very edible. Louis was pleased with it, and that was all that really mattered.

 “I've never cooked before. I think it turned out alright,” he beamed proudly as he dug into his second helping.

 Harry nodded in assent, dimples popping as he tried not to fond too hard at the boy. He surreptitiously closed his eyes and checked again for Niall. To his surprise and profound relief, he located him swimming in this direction. Harry leapt to his feet.

 “Hey I'm sorry but I have to go. I have, uhh, a thing,” he stammered before running down the beach and diving into the waves.

 

 When he got to Niall, Harry threw himself into his arms, so relieved to see the blonde merman alive and well that he could have cried.

 “I was so worried, I couldn't find you! What happened?”

 “A lot,” Niall laughed. “Might’ve got myself into a bit of a pickle, but looks like you have too mate. I'll assume the human on your island is Louis?”

 “Yea. I don't know what to do with him now though,” Harry admitted.

 “Well I don't either, but I rescued his friends like a proper dolt,” Niall commented casually.

 Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. He really had the best friend that ever existed in the whole world. He grabbed Niall’s face with both hands and smacked a big kiss onto his cheek.

 “Oh my God! How? Why? They're ok?"

 “Dunno why really. I saw how you felt about that Louis chap and I guess I thought I'd try and help. Can't have the lad heartbroken cause his friends were killed by sirens and that,” Niall shrugged. “So, I made a deal with Taylor. And yea they're fine, I've got them holed up in the Sargasso Sea.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, I had some personal things happen recently. This is the longest chapter so far though, I hope you enjoy it!

Louis set out to explore the island, which turned out to be much bigger than he'd expected. And despite his misgivings, he had to admit that Harry was right - it was something of a paradise. Colorful birds chirped in the verdant green trees, bright tropical flowers peeked out of the mossy forest floor, and Louis kept finding more and more lovely things around each bend.

An unsettled shiver prickled his spine when he stumbled upon a stunning waterfall cascading invitingly into a clear lake just as he had been thinking about how thirsty he was. What if all of this was some sort of trick? A magical island that looked idyllic but was secretly deadly? Oh well, not like he had much choice. Louis cupped his hands in the fresh water and drank greedily. He stared suspiciously into the clear water, checking for poisonous snakes or toxic goo or something, before saying fuck it and jogging back to the shack and grabbing the bar of lavender-scented soap he'd seen in one of the boxes.

Louis stripped off Harry's clothes and dove into the pool. The water was lovely, as expected. Louis let it relax his tight muscles as he floated about for a while. He felt like Tarzan or summat. Mowgli, maybe. He wondered what Harry was up to, what “thing” he had to get to so suddenly. Quite nice of him to bring breakfast, especially after the way Louis had treated him yesterday. Now that he'd calmed down, Louis wondered if maybe he'd been wrong about the charming lad. It didn't seem like he meant any harm, really. Louis objectively knew that he shouldn't just blindly trust a mythical siren, but on the other hand he usually had a good sense about people, and Harry just didn't seem  _bad._

Louis took his time lathering up, enjoying his outdoor bath. A flush crept over his skin as he replayed the siren’s words. “Pretty like you.” It had sort of burst from his mouth, like a rogue thought that Harry hadn't really meant to say aloud. The corners of Louis’ mouth quirked up. Harry thought he was pretty. The most stunning work of art Louis had ever laid eyes on thought  _he_ was pretty. He wouldn't usually accept “pretty” as a suitable compliment - he generally preferred more handsome and rugged - but the way Harry had said it made Louis’ heart beat faster, even now.

He rubbed his soapy hands down his abs, lingering around his cock and balls absentmindedly. If anyone was pretty it was Harry. Those green eyes and deep dimples and those plush pink lips. Louis’ cock started to thicken in his hand. The way Harry's mouth moved when he talked… it was mesmerizing. Louis wondered how he kissed. His lips looked so soft, like they'd be so fun to play with, to nibble on.

Louis closed his eyes on a long exhale, still toying with his stiffening prick. He definitely wasn't wanking to thoughts of Harry. The cool water just felt nice, that was all. If he'd met Harry in any other context though, then sure, he might possibly touch himself while thinking about him. If he'd met the jewel-eyed lad in class at uni, then Louis might allow himself to think about Harry's hands as he rubbed pretty-smelling soap all over his body. Such long, graceful fingers that boy had, such incredibly sexy hands.

Louis’ own hand sped up on his cock, massaging his length, squeezing tightly at the base. He wondered if Harry would let Louis fuck him. If he'd met him in a different world and courted him properly of course, if Harry was human... Would he bend over for him, let him slam into him hard? Or maybe Louis would fuck him on his back, grind into him deep and slow so he could watch his gorgeous face as he pushed him closer and closer to ecstasy. Louis let out a desperate gasp at that mental image and curled in on himself a little, mouth dropping open as he worked his cock faster. Yea, he'd fuck Harry just like that, maybe hold his legs up, feel the muscles in the backs of his thighs jump when Louis hit his spot just right. He'd tease him with it at first, thrust deep into him but just barely glance against his prostate, then grind up into it slow and dirty, pressing his cockhead perfectly against his spot before taking it away again. He wondered if he could make Harry beg for it, turn him into a whimpering, trembly mess.

Louis came into his fist with a breathy gasp that sounded far too loud to his own ears. He rinsed the come off his fingertips underwater and glanced around guiltily, feeling like when he was a teenager and used to sneak onto his dad's computer to watch porn. He shouldn't think of Harry like that. Will absolutely never happen again, nope.

 

With that mentally sorted, Louis dressed and made his way back to the beach, taking his time to admire the scenery. He played in the surf and collected some shells to add to the border decorating Harry's little house, but he quickly grew bored, which wasn't great for his mental state. Louis was pretty good at pushing down his emotions - it was a survival skill he was secretly quite proud of, although he guessed that a psychologist would likely not share his viewpoint - but some burdens were too big, too heavy to shelve properly, and as Louis stared blankly over the endless uncaring ocean, this one threatened to crush him. Loneliness pressed around him like a thick fog, and it was suddenly hard to breathe.

Books. Harry’d said he had books. Louis whirled and marched to the shack. He wasn't much of a reader usually, but he'd try anything to keep his mind occupied right now. He rummaged through the stack until he found the book Harry had mentioned, the one he'd named this place after. Albert something… Aldous Huxley, yes this must be it. Island, it was called. Louis rolled his eyes. How original, naming a book about an island “Island,” of all things. Louis was a straightforward sort of chap himself, but even he thought naming a book deserved a bit more creativity than that. He tucked the well-worn copy under his arm, grabbed a towel to lie on, and strolled back to the beach with his expectations set high. This better be the best damn book about an island in the entire history of people writing about islands.

 

He must have nodded off, because the next thing Louis registered was his body jerking him awake, startled by someone shouting his name. He sat up and squinted toward the sound. Sunspots danced in his vision but he made out Harry running toward him with a giant grin lighting up his entire face, tripping over his own feet in his haste.

“Louis! Guess what! Louis!”

The siren was fully nude of course, tossing his head to shake the sopping hair out of his face, water droplets sliding down his muscled chest and abs and splashing onto the beach, long cock flopping between his legs as he ran. Louis swallowed thickly. Harry's dick was as beautiful as the rest of him, because of course it was. So thick and perfect… and Louis was definitely staring too long.

“Oi!” Louis’ voice came out higher than he meant it to. “Put that thing away!”

Harry instantly clapped a big hand over his crotch and giggled as he veered off towards the shack. “Sorry! I forgot you're such a prude.”

Louis started to protest - he was so not a prude - but the naked merman was already disappearing down the trail. Louis gathered up his book and towel and jogged after his retreating form.

Harry met him on the trail, now dressed in shorts and a tshirt. He grasped Louis’ shoulders, ducked down a bit to meet his eyes, and…

“Your friends are alive.”

Louis’ world stopped turning. Or maybe it started turning again, it was hard to tell. The ground lurched beneath his feet and his hands flew up to Harry's arms.

“Wha - How do you know?”

Harry continued excitedly, his voice bright, green eyes sparkling. “Niall told me. He made some sort of deal with the mermaid who took them and he has them now. They're fine Louis, they're ok.”

Louis blinked dazedly up at Harry as a tsunami of warm emotions flooded his chest. His eyes watered hotly and he threw his arms around the siren’s neck, trying to convey his gratitude with his body since he wasn't sure he could trust his vocal cords at the moment. Harry held him so tightly, turning his face into Louis’ neck and inhaling, rubbing his back. The boy did give great hugs. Louis squeezed him back just as tightly, bouncing a little in excitement before finally wrenching out of the lovely hug and flicking his fringe off his forehead.

“So your friend bought my friends, yea? Can we buy them back? I want to go right now, you can give me a piggyback ride there.”

Harry was staring at Louis with a goofy grin on his face, like making him happy was the culmination of all his hopes and dreams in life or something. When Louis stared back expectantly he glanced away quickly and wrinkled his nose in a cute chipmunk way, as if trying to reset his face into something less fond.

“I don't know exactly where they are yet, so we can't go right this second, but we will Louis, we'll get them back as soon as I talk to Niall again and get the details. I just had to come tell you first so you would know and you wouldn't have to be so sad anymore and - and no, no, we don't have to buy them back! He's my _friend_ , he only took them because he knew I, umm…” Harry trailed off, searching for words.

Louis tried to fill in the gaps, to make sense of this new development. “He knew you had me? Is that it? He knew you had me and thought you might want the full set?”

“No!” Harry's gaze was darting around nervously, like he was hoping a squirrel would pop out to help him with this conversation. “Well he does know that I have you, yes, but that's not why -” The siren made an aborted gesture then let his hands fall limply at his sides. “I don't know what to say without freaking you out.”

Louis took a deep breath and willed his quick temper to stay buried for the time being. Mermaid culture was surely much different than humans, and everyone had reasons for doing things. Louis was an open-minded person, he could try to understand. He looked the siren up and down, who was eyeing him as if he were a wild animal that might bolt or attack at any second. Louis sighed.

“Why don't you explain it to me, yea? I know how things look from my side, but I don't know anything about yours. I promise I won't freak out.” Louis stepped closer and was intensely aware of the other boy's energy field, like a magnetic pull, urging him in. The strange need sang in Louis’ veins, a sense that his body would never feel quite right again unless it was regularly close to Harry's. He wondered if this was part of the whole siren thing. Must be. The realization stung a bit. He'd never felt this sort of visceral connection with someone before - it was a shame it wasn't real, just a magical spell from a magical creature.

Louis observed the siren critically. He was just standing there innocently with his head bowed, fiddling with the hem of his tshirt. He'd said he was human, ‘used to be,’ Louis remembered. He wondered what sort of boy he'd been, what life he'd had. Louis suddenly wanted to know everything about him. His hand shot out and curled around Harry's forearm gently, trailing down to rest at his wrist - a gesture Louis had meant as a friendly one but that felt startlingly intimate. He peered up at the enigmatic siren’s face. “I want to understand, Harry, really I do. I want you to tell me everything, get to know each other.”

Harry still looked troubled, clearly doubtful of Louis’ ability to stay calm and listen. Which Louis found bloody offensive, but also somewhat accurate, so…

“I mean, if you freak me out it's not like I can run far.” He gestured at their surroundings. “I'm literally stuck on a desert island with you.”

That got a dimple to appear in Harry's left cheek. The corners of of his baby pink lips turned up. “I've always thought that's a weird thing to say, ‘desert island.’ Like, it's kind of a paradox, innit? Cause a desert is like a place with no water and an island is literally surrounded by water.”

Louis’ eyes crinkled as he chuckled. What a quirky lad.

“Reckon you're right. Come on then, sit down and tell me how you became a merman.” Louis sat down in the shade at the treeline and tugged at the bottom of Harry's shorts until he plopped down next to him. The merman wrapped his arms around his legs and was silent for a beat, just staring down at his toes.

“I don't know how it works, really,” he said finally. “Magic, I guess? I never like, believed in magical creatures, never thought they actually existed, but now I guess I am one, so…” Harry trailed off, seemingly having trouble figuring out where to start.

“How did you become one though?” Louis pressed.

“Niall made me one. I, umm, I would've died, I reckon, if he hadn't.”

Louis was trying hard to be patient, but his curiosity was killing him and Harry talked _so slow_. He couldn't tell if the boy was reluctant to tell his story or if he simply didn't know how. “ _How_  though?” Louis asked gently. “Some sort of ritual or summat? And why would you have died? What exactly happened?”

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a long breath. “I was on my dad's ship and I got, uhh, I got thrown off. And I was a decent swimmer but we were weeks out, like really far, and I couldn't… there wasn't really anything I could do, you know?” His voice wavered and he paused for a moment to stare unseeingly over the waves. When he spoke again his voice was small, childlike.

“I saw a shark. At least I think it was a shark, maybe it could've been a dolphin, I don't know. But I was really scared. Like,  _really_  scared. I've never been afraid of the ocean, always liked it actually, but like, nobody wants to get _eaten_.” His voice cracked and Louis instinctively reached out and covered his hand with one of his own, rubbing soothingly. Harry's thumb moved up to trap one of Louis’ fingers. “Sorry, I've never really talked about this to anyone before,” he murmured. “Anyway, the shark didn't eat me. He left eventually and I don't really know how long it was before I couldn't stay up anymore. Days, I think? It all gets a bit fuzzy. I just remember being so tired and thirsty, and my legs kept cramping up and I kept slipping under, and eventually it was too much effort and I just couldn't do it anymore… so I kinda just gave up and let myself sink.” He went silent again, staring over the ocean.

“You drowned?” Louis looked into the siren’s face gravely, trying to imagine without reflecting the sympathetic horror he felt.

“It was almost a relief, actually,” Harry said softly. “But no. I sank deeper and deeper just looking up at the sunlight getting further and further away. I tried to swim back up but I just couldn't, and I ran out of air. I breathed in water and it burned really bad and my vision went all like yellowish, and I knew I was dying. And then I saw Niall. He swam up to me and sort of scooped me up and then he kissed me.”

“He - kissed you?” Louis squeaked. He couldn't help the pang of acid that zapped through his belly.

“Sort of. He put his mouth on mine and then like, pushed water into my mouth.”

“Like CPR!” Louis interrupted. “Except with water instead of air. Mermaid CPR!”

A corner of Harry's mouth curved upwards. “I don't know what that is?”

“It doesn't matter. Go on, what happened then? You turned into a mermaid?”

Harry nodded slowly, as if he was still in awe that it had happened. “Yea. I breathed in the water and grew a tail and my head suddenly felt... limitless? Like a tool almost, instead of just the place where I do my thinking. Like I could do crazy things that I couldn't before. And obviously, I could breathe underwater.”

“Crazy things like what? I mean I know you've got the siren song thing but is there more?” Louis was fascinated if a bit apprehensive.

“Well, I have sort of an inner locator? For example Niall is -” The siren squinted in concentration and then pointed to a spot about 50 feet from the shore. “- just over there.”

Louis’ body tensed. “How many of you are there? Are there more like… around?” His eyes darted fearfully. They were shapeshifters - they could be _anywhere_. He wasn't safe, not even on land. He scrambled to his feet and whipped around blindly, looking for something he was hoping he wouldn't see and fighting the sudden urge to run. He couldn't get enough air in his lungs. A bird squawked loudly overhead and Louis stumbled backward, bracing himself against the tree behind him.

“Hey, hey, relax!” Harry was there, touching him gently. Louis focused on the warmth of his big hands, trying valiantly to ward off the panic. The siren pulled him into a hug and Louis unintentionally let out a tiny whimper. Fuck, how embarrassing. Maybe Harry didn't hear that. He was busy murmuring comforting things into the top of Louis’ head and rocking his body soothingly. “It's ok baby, you're alright. No one else is here. Just me and you, ok? And Niall won't come any closer unless I tell him to. Relax, pretty.”

Louis blushed violently at that, but ducked his head and buried his face in the siren’s chest anyway. Harry pulled back just to look him in the eye. “Nobody is going to hurt you, Louis. _Nobody_. I wouldn't let them, angel, I'd die first. Do you believe me?”

Louis peered into the siren’s earnest green eyes and for some reason he did. He did believe him. Louis nodded slowly. His eyes traveled over the merman’s handsome face and lingered at his pretty lips. Harry was so close his breath was wafting over Louis’ face as he talked and it smelled  _sweet,_  and how irrational was that? Shouldn't it smell like fish or something? Louis squirmed. He had to put some distance between them. He stepped out of the enveloping warmth and scratched behind his ear awkwardly.

“I'm fine now, thanks.”

Harry didn't move closer, but his eyes bored into Louis’ soul. “It's ok to not be, you know. I don't want you to be embarrassed for feeling bad, or scared, or - or _anything_ , Lou. You've been through a lot.”

How utterly sweet. And entirely untrue. Feelings made you weak, Louis had learned this long ago. “I'm fine, thanks,” he repeated, rolling his shoulders back and straightening to his full height.

“Ok.” Harry surveyed him critically. “Well… then do you think you might want to meet Niall? He really wants to meet you, and he can tell you more about your friends.”

Yes, Louis definitely needed to hear about Zayn and Liam. He ignored the way his stomach clenched at the thought of meeting another siren. Harry was alright, but he was clearly the exception to the rule. “Yes, I want to meet him.”

“Good.” Harry bit his lip, but he couldn't hide the dimples in his cheeks or the way his eyes lit up with excitement. “You're gonna like him Louis, you two will get on, I know it. Niall’s great, he's really… just really great Lou, you'll see.”

Louis nodded and forced a smile. Harry was already backing toward the shoreline. “I'll just go get him. Wait here, ok?” And with that, the merman dove into the water and disappeared.

Louis waited as requested, pacing back and forth along the beach and chewing on his nails. He didn't know why he was so nervous, even. He believed Harry wouldn't bring anyone around who would hurt him, but he couldn't stop the fleeting memories of terrible teeth and flat white eyes that assaulted him. None of which mattered, really, because he was fine and Zayn was fine and Liam was fine and everything was going to be ok.

A familiar glittering in the water made him freeze. His eyes locked onto the two shapes undulating beneath the surface. Harry's head broke the surface first, then another merman surfaced, one with a shock of blonde hair. He shot Louis a friendly grin that had him stumbling backwards because he'd seen that face before and no, no, _no_!

Louis whirled and rushed headlong into the forest, ignoring Harry's confused shout behind him. This was not happening today, nope, he was so not prepared to meet dream-monster-person. Not that it would ever be a good time to meet nightmare boy, but maybe this could be rescheduled for a later date anyhow? Louis crashed through a particularly dense patch of greenery, tripped over a root and fell, rolling onto his back just in time to see Harry and the blonde merman crash through the same greenery and land in an undignified heap of limbs. Louis would have been howling at the sight if it hadn't been, well, nightmare boy, who grinned again and held out his hand.

“Hi! I'm Niall.”

Louis slowly took the proffered hand. “‘M Louis.”

“I know.” Niall was still grinning at him.

“I know who you are too,” Louis shot back, his tone accusatory.

The siren at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “Yea sorry about that, mate. I meant to scare you away so this -” he gestured vaguely, “- wouldn't happen.”

Oh. Well that actually kind of made sense. Louis arched an eyebrow and tilted his head in acknowledgement. His gaze drifted over to where Harry lay beaming at the two of them. Louis shot him a fierce scowl.

“You couldn't have warned me that your friend once tried to eat me through a porthole? Didn't think that was worth mentioning, hmm?”

Harry just shrugged. “Didn't think of it at the time. But we're all cool now, yea?”

Louis turned to face Niall with narrowed eyes. The blonde just blinked back at him in the most non-threatening way, the absolute picture of innocence.

“I guess,” Louis allowed finally.

 

A while later, Louis was trying his best to start a fire between being pelted by fish that the two mermen were tossing ashore. They were laughing and hollering and splashing around and Louis felt a bit left out, to be honest. On the other hand though, he really hated not being the best at things, so he thought his ego was probably better off  _not_ getting in the water to inevitably compare his swimming skills to that of two mermen.

A racket of splashes and weird muffled mouth-sounds had him shading his eyes with his hand and squinting out at Harry, who was alternately waving his webbed hands in the air and splashing loudly. His cheeks were bulging with something… was he choking?

“Niall!” Louis shouted. “Niall!” The blonde popped up and Louis pointed at Harry. “I think something’s wrong with him! Can you -”

Niall disappeared under the surface and reappeared in front of Harry. Harry leaned back and spewed a fish in an impressive arc, followed by a delighted whoop of laughter. Niall leapt into the air and caught the fish in his mouth. It was still very much alive, flapping around in Niall’s teeth, which was vaguely disturbing, and how did that even fit in Harry's closed mouth? Louis shook his head vigorously and turned around to focus on the fire. He'd barely turned before something hit him on the back of the head.

“Oi! I'm not playing fish catch with you!”

“Come oooonn Lou,” Harry cajoled.

“No! I won't!”

“But we just -” Harry's voice was cut off by Niall pulling him underwater.

Louis grinned. Good riddance. He took advantage of his momentary reprieve from being pelted with flying fish to collect the ones strewn along the beach. He rinsed them off in the water and arranged them over the fire, then dug a hole in the sand to fashion a comfy chair for himself while he kept an eye on dinner.

Voices wafted from down the beach and soon Harry and Niall came into view. Harry walked straight to Louis, beaming and holding something out in his palms. Louis stretched his neck to peer from his sand seat.

“Is that… a starfish?”

Harry nodded. Louis leaned forward and poked one of its legs tentatively. It squirmed in Harry's hand. Louis had never seen a starfish in real life before, only on tv, and it was a fascinating little creature. Wait…

“Harry! I'm not going to  _eat_ a starfish!” Louis gasped in horror.

“Of course not!” The merman looked appalled. “I just thought you might want to see him, that's all.” Harry flipped the starfish over. “Look at all his little sucky spots! Isn't he cool?”

He was quite cool. The starfish’s underside was covered in tiny suction cups, all wiggling independently. Louis prodded a section of them and squealed when they suctioned onto his fingertip. “Can I hold him?”

Harry beamed widely and deposited the cute creature onto Louis’ spread palm.

 

Niall plunked onto the sand in front of him and Louis set the starfish down onto his knee. The suction cups felt funny on his skin. He raised his eyes to meet Niall’s light blue ones.

“Where are Zayn and Liam?”

“They're safe,” the siren answered immediately. “Taylor left a pretty nasty bite on Liam, and Zayn’s quite shaken up, but they're ok for now.”

“For now?” Louis felt queasy.

Niall met Harry's eyes and some sort of wordless communication passed between them. Harry sat down as well, his knee brushing against Louis’.

“They're in this place called the Sargasso Sea,” Niall began. “It's this kind of dead zone, bordered by currents, but inside it feels like it's not in the middle of an ocean at all. It's still, almost windless, and there's seaweed growing everywhere, all over the surface of the water.”

That sounded creepy as hell, honestly. Louis swallowed hard. “Why are they there?”

“You know how I told you about our siren locator sense?” Harry joined in. “The Sargasso Sea is the only place in the Bermuda Triangle where that doesn't really work. Like Niall said, it's a dead zone.”

“There's ships there,” Niall continued. “Because there's barely wind there so when stuff like… when stuff happens, umm, sometimes the boats will kinda just end up there floating about. Anyway, I put your friends on one of them.” The merman puffed his chest out proudly. “Been feeding them and everything, I have.”

“They're on a ship,” Louis repeated. Niall nodded. “So why don't they come get me and we can go home?” He looked back and forth between the sirens’ faces in confusion. “Did you not tell them I'm here?”

Niall avoided his eyes and shot Harry a pleading look. Harry shifted uncomfortably and laced and unlaced his fingers before answering. “Umm, they… they can't.” Harry's words were like cold honey, thick and viscous, as if they didn't want to be said any more than Harry wanted to say them. “That's the thing, Louis, they can't leave.” He glanced over at Niall, who was sitting with his head bowed. “See, Niall… he made a deal, right? With Taylor. And part of his end of the deal was that he can take Liam and Zayn but that they can't leave. To protect our secret, our home. Nobody can know we exist and… and -”

“And live to tell about it,” Louis finished morosely. A sick feeling of hopeless dread washed over him like an icy wave. Here he'd been laughing and crushing on a boy and playing with ocean creatures like everything was going to be fine and it _wasn't_. Ever since he'd found out Zayn and Liam were alive, he'd sort of had it in the back of his head that this was all going to be some crazy story they'd tell their grandchildren someday. But he realized now that they were never going to have that, never going to fall in love or get married or start a family. Liam wanted kids. Louis remembered him saying so one day, half tipsy and propped up against the pencil-marked wall of the dingy dorm room, remembered making some smart-ass remark about it and the way Zayn’s eyes had gone all soft when he'd scolded Louis with an ‘oh shut up, Li’s going to make a great dad someday.’ But he wasn't. Not anymore.

“So we're all going to die then.” Louis was morbidly proud of the steely way his voice came out, instead of the trembly way he actually felt. “Zayn, Liam, me. Do you think they'll kill us or just wait for us to die on our own somehow?” Maybe they'd keep them around, as playthings or whatever. Humans were clearly little more than pawns here, as evidenced by the way they were bought and sold like cattle or summat.

Harry shook his head emphatically, his knee still pressing against Louis’. “No! No, we're not going to let that happen, Louis, I promise. We'll figure something out.”

 

Soon after, Niall said his goodbyes, promising to look after Zayn and Liam and to tell them that Louis loved them. It started to drizzle and Louis took shelter in the shack, with Harry trailing behind. He sank to the floor and put his head in his hands. He felt Harry sit down next to him and sensed the tentative nature of it, like he was unsure of whether to speak or remain silent, to stay or leave.

Louis was exhausted, both mentally and physically, stress and emotional upheaval making him feel as though he would surely shatter at any moment, just break apart into a million pieces like so many dandelion seeds caught in the wind. He let his body slump to the side and lean against Harry's bigger, stronger, magical one. The siren instantly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Which felt nice, sure, but not nearly enough. Louis felt weak for asking, but…

“Will you sing to me?”

He felt Harry move to look down at him and thought he might refuse, or at least force a discussion, but he didn't. He just snuggled Louis tighter against his warm body, parted his perfect lips, and sang. The ethereal notes vibrated through Louis’ chest, wound themselves into his blood, and carried him off to dreamland.

 

_He was running, darting between trees and bushes that he knew like the back of his hand. He had to get to the water, had to, had to -_

_The shouts behind him grew closer, closer, but he was almost there, could feel the dirt change to sand under his bare feet, could see the sun reflecting off the waves. He broke through the treeline and dashed across the blinding white expanse of beach and he was going to make it, was going to make it -_  

_"BANG!"_

_The sound cracked the air around him and exploded like a grenade in his back. He fell face first in the sand. He tried to get up, to crawl, to keep going, but the most he could do was lift his head just enough to see the water through sand-filled eyes, see it lapping mockingly at the shore only a few feet away, but it was too far and he was too late. His vision descended into static and then went black._

 

Louis woke with a start, drenched in sweat. It was the same nightmare as always. He'd had it since he was a kid, so many times over the years, but the recurrent nature of it never made it any less terrifying. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and lay back down heavily. Harry was gone, must have left after Louis had fallen asleep on him. Louis curled into a ball and attempted to fall back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Sargasso Sea is real, and just as creepy as it sounds. They say Columbus thought he'd found land when he reached it, because of the dense expanses of seaweed that covers the surface. Also, before boat motors were a thing, sailboats sometimes used to get stuck in the Sea indefinitely because there wasn't enough wind to keep them going. It's the only sea in the world that is bordered by currents instead of land.  
> Another fun fact (lol) is that people who have drowned and been brought back with CPR say that their vision went a weird yellow right before they drowned. Just thought that was interesting so I included it.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always felt like there should be more mermaid fics in the world, and this one has been swimming around (lol) in my head for a while now. I plan on updating every weekend.  
> Also, I'm with Louis on the sciency stuff. I have no idea what I'm talking about, so please don't expect it to be super accurate.
> 
> Comments and kudos are my heroin, so please let me know what you think!


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